Blood Tied (16 page)

To own me, body and soul.

“I love you, Thad,” he whispered before brushing his lips against mine.

He loved me? How was that even possible? Yes, we’d had sex, but he didn’t know one thing about me. I hadn’t shared with him my fears of opening up to others, and his advice hadn’t helped me realize I’d been denying myself.

That was Aiden.

It was Aiden’s touch that had given me comfort. It was in Aiden’s big, green eyes where I’d seen the potential for a new home. It was Aiden’s embrace I’d sought, his flesh I longed to press against, and his lips that would touch me again.

Not Ben’s.

“
Demitte me
,” I uttered after breaking free of the kiss.

Ben released me, and his big brown eyes regarded me in shock.

“
Sede
,” I said, and Ben sat back down in the chair.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he asked. He was pissed and clearly not used to being overpowered.

“
Tace mehercle
.” It was the first time I’d ever said an incantation with a curse word, but he needed to shut the fuck up. “I want you to listen to me. Actually hear the words that are coming out of my mouth. Okay?”

His lips curled in an angry snarl. He evidently had a few more choice words for me, but he was unable to give them voice.

“You and I are
never
going to happen.” The conviction of my words gave me the steady legs I’d previously lacked in his presence. “I don’t mean to be so cruel. That’s not the warlock I am, but damn it, Ben! You’ve given me no other choice. You push and you push and you push. That’s not love. That’s some freakish obsession that has gotten way out of control, and it has to stop.”

An arctic chill drifted across his gaze.

“You’re angry. That’s fine. I’m pretty fucking pissed off at the moment too, and you know what? That’s okay. It’s okay for me to be angry with you, and it’s fine if you want to stay ticked off with me. You know why? Because for the first time in my life, I’m not running from what I feel. I’m not scared of what I might accidentally trigger by letting the real me free, and it’s Aiden who has done that for me. He’s given me the courage to face what I’ve been too terrified of embracing.” I stood before him, my shoulders squared and my heart, not my brain, held on to the reins. I’d never felt more alive. “Do I make myself clear?”

Ben locked his gaze onto mine. He gave me one slow nod before staring straight ahead.

“
Te libero
,” I said with a wave of my hand, releasing him from my spell.

He stood up, walked back the way he’d come, and shut the door behind him.

IT TOOK
me a few moments to calm down after my confrontation with Ben. I was still upset that he would try to force himself on me, but I had to let it go. My attention was needed elsewhere, so I resumed my search in the Grimoire and found the spell.

We didn’t need to find a weakness between the worlds. We could bring it to us.

If it worked, we’d be safely transported to Otherworld. With a whole lot of luck, we’d stop whatever the shadow weaver’s plans were and get fairyland back on its feet.

“Your positivity does you well, Thaddeus.”

I jumped at the sound of the voice and turned, a spell ready on my lips and a slow chill emanating from my hands. Evidently, my encounter with Ben had left my nerves frayed. But it wasn’t Ben who stood in the room with me. It was Gerald Wa, and his friendly gray eyes lowered my defenses. “You really shouldn’t sneak up on a warlock,” I advised with a grin. It was nice to smile when I felt like it instead of looking constipated all the time.

“I think I can handle myself,” he said. Although he spoke the words with a smile, his eyes held an absence of joy. Pain weighed heavily on him.

“Where is the rest of the Conclave?”

He snorted. “Where they have been the last few weeks, staring at the insides of their own asses.”

I chuckled at his comment. The grave wizard who’d given us our marching orders had departed in favor of the man he had always been. It was a definite improvement. “You don’t agree with them, do you?”

“Not entirely,” he said with a sigh. “Don’t get me wrong, I understand their decision. Our first duty, which is yours as well, is to the Gate. You know that.”

I did. Or at least I had at one time. My priorities were no longer so black or white. Aiden had had something to do with that. “But?”

He shot me a mock grimace. “You think you’re so smart. You always have.”

“That’s because I am,” I replied with a jut of my chin. “There’s obviously something you want to say. Otherwise you wouldn’t be here right now.”

He nodded. “I do. And I’m crossing a line by doing so. The Conclave doesn’t believe in individual thought or action. Group mind think and decision making rule the day.”

“It’s what provides the balance,” I added. “Without it, the witches would side with witches, the warlocks with the warlocks.”

“And the wizards with the wizards,” he said with a nod. “By ruling as one, we keep the natural pull of our orders from swaying us. The magical community would be in anarchy, and we cannot travel down that path again.”

I couldn’t argue with that. Before the three orders of magic decided to create a governing body, we’d caused more harm to ourselves than the humans had. Each order of magic thought it better than the other, and our history pages were filled with one bloody battle after another.

Until the Gate was first attacked by sorcerers, a result of our kind breeding with humans. “Are you trying to tell me sorcerers are the enemy we face?”

“I certainly hope not,” he replied. The magical half-breeds had the ability to tap into the power of the Gate and completely circumvent the black, white, and gray magic that fueled the rest of us. While they siphoned impressive power in that manner, they couldn’t sustain the connection. As they were only part magical, once the mana with which they were born had been exhausted, their link to the Gate was severed. Still, the untamed magic they’d been able to harness had almost destroyed us all. “But we haven’t ruled out the possibility.”

“Shadow weavers, vampyren, blood magic, and sorcerers,” I whispered. “Our list of enemies continues to grow.”

Gerald nodded.

“Is that why you’re sending only me and my brothers? Because you fear this attack on Otherworld might be a diversion?”

The old wizard smiled. “I think you were born into the wrong order,” he said. “That’s the thinking of a wizard, not a warlock.”

“Why not just tell us that?” I asked.

“The Conclave enjoys its secrets.”

“But you told me just now.”

He shook his head. “No. You guessed it on your own.”

“You’re splitting hairs, and you know it, which is more like a warlock than a wizard.”

He snuffed. “Stick and stones, Thaddeus.”

“Will you get in trouble for this?” I asked. Although I appreciated the information, Gerald Wa was our only real connection to answers. It wouldn’t do us any good if the Conclave turned on him.

“Don’t worry about me,” he said. “I’m more than capable of handling those fuddy-duddies. Besides, you’d be surprised. I’m not alone in my thinking. There are other members of the Conclave who wish for a change in our practices as much as I do.”

“Really? Why?”

“I’ve already shared too much.”

He was right. Giving away even more secrets would make his return to the Conclave that much harder.

“But I do have one final piece of advice.”

“What’s that?”

“I know everyone believes this is a suicide mission, and I can certainly understand why,” he said. “And our very specific orders were that the rest of the protector covens, including your father, must stay here.”

I nodded and waved him on. “So?”

“Ben Crane is not a member of a protector coven.”

I liked this wizard more by the second. He was crafty and sly, but the thought of Ben traveling with us to Otherworld left a bad taste in my mouth. “If he came with us, we wouldn’t be breaking our orders, would we?”

He smiled in reply. “Don’t forget young Drake Carpenter.”

If my jaw had hit the floor any harder, all my teeth would have shattered. “You can’t be serious. He has no magical abilities. He’d be a sitting duck, and Mason would never agree to it.”

“You underestimate the boy,” Gerald said. He gazed off in the distance as if he were trying to see past an impregnable barrier. “He’s an enigma to us. We still don’t understand why the sleeping potion you gave him or Camille Proctor’s attempts to spell him failed. But that may just be the kind of weapon you need in Otherworld.”

Drake? A weapon?

“I must go now,” he said, gathering his robes. “I have been gone too long as it is.”

“Thank you, Gerald.”

“You’re welcome, Thaddeus,” he said with a smile. This time his gray eyes sparkled. A second later he was gone.

MASON TOOK
the news about as well as I expected.

“Are you out of your fucking mind?” he railed. He stood toe-to-toe with me, poking my chest, a rage I’d never seen before blazing in his blue eyes. Aiden stepped forward, clearly wanting to intervene but uncertain what to do. “There’s no way in hell I’m allowing Drake to go with us.”

“Mason, please,” Drake said, his tone as smooth as honey. It was his usual timbre whenever he was trying to talk Mason down from the rafters. “I’m a big boy, you know?”

My brother wheeled around. His eyes had gone mad. “I know that, but this is too dangerous. You have no powers, no magic. You’d be eaten alive.”

Drake crossed his arms and blew his long blond locks out of his eyes. “I think I’ve done pretty good so far, haven’t I? Which one of us killed that vampyre again?”

“This is different,” Mason insisted. “We don’t know what we’re up against in Otherworld.”

“I know it’s a scary proposition,” I said, hoping he would hear the logic of my argument. It was a long shot for someone who flew off the handle more than Faye Dunaway had in
Mommie Dearest
. “But Gerald’s right. There’s something special about Drake.”

“I don’t need you to tell me that,” he seethed.

“And Gerald Wa came here to tell you that?” my father asked. He held three backpacks in his hand that were likely filled with the weapons we’d be taking with us. The weight of his fear about our mission still coiled about him like a python.

“Yes. The Conclave has been unable to determine why magic doesn’t seem to work on him, and Gerald believes that may be useful to us.”

“I’m not experimenting with the life of the man I love,” Mason rumbled. “Besides, we can’t miss school.”

Mason was grasping at straws now. He never needed a reason to play hooky. Drake evidently realized that. He unwrapped Mason’s crossed arms and placed them around his waist. The move quickly abated my younger brother’s bluster. He could bitch and moan until the end of time, but whenever he held Drake, his belligerent nature faded.

“I love you too,” Drake said. He kissed Mason’s lips. “But if I can help, I want to.”

Mason squeezed him hard. “I know you do, but my decision is still no.”

Drake’s cornflower blue eyes flashed steel. Mason was in for it now. “Your decision?” he asked. He pulled out of the embrace and took a step back. “I’m not some puppy you can keep on a leash, you know? I’ve got my own mind, and I’m fixin’ to use it.”

“But—”

Drake held up his hand, and Mason wisely shut up. He turned to face the rest of us. “I know this is dangerous, but you’re all my family now, and if my goin’ helps you to come back safely, well, then, dammit, I’m goin’.” He glanced over his shoulder at Mason, whose pleading eyes begged him to reconsider. “My mind’s made up, so quit with the puppy dog eyes, or I’ll get a rolled-up newspaper and swat your behind.”

“I’d do what he says,” Pierce advised. “My money’s on Drake kicking your ass if you don’t.”

Mason exhaled and threw his hands in the air. “Fine.” He grabbed Drake and pulled him into an embrace. “But you’re not leaving my side the whole time. Not. For. One. Second.”

Drake’s smile told us he agreed to the terms. “It’s really hot when you get all protective.”

“You like that, huh?” Mason asked. His voice grew husky.

“All right, that’s enough,” my father said. He eyed Mason and Drake until they released each other and the raging hormones that seemed to constantly hold them under their sway. He turned to me and said, “What else did Gerald tell you?”

After I’d revealed to them most of our conversation, it took a few moments for the information to sink in.

“Sorcerers?” my father asked. “Really?”

“The only thing Gerald said on the subject was that the Conclave hadn’t ruled out their involvement.”

“I thought they were virtually extinct,” Ben said.

“Virtually means there are a few still out there,” I said. From what I’d read, the sorcerers that did exist were either ignorant of the power they carried or in hiding. “We have to be prepared for anything.”

Everyone nodded. But there was one final piece of the conversation I’d yet to relate. The part that involved Ben. While I understood why Gerald had suggested Ben go with us, I wasn’t completely sold on the idea. Besides, after what had just happened between us, I doubted he would agree to go.

“And what about me?” Ben asked. For most of our talk, he’d stood there, tapping his foot as if waiting for me to reveal what he’d already guessed.

“This isn’t your fight,” my father said with a pat on his back. “You came to Havenbridge for business. To expect anything more from you isn’t fair.”

All light faded from Ben’s eyes, turning them black. “Screw that!” he said. “I’m a warlock, and I don’t run from a fight.” Why did it seem as if he were addressing that statement to me?

“We could use his help,” Pierce said. He gazed at me, obviously expecting me to agree. “The more firepower we have the better, right?”

There was no denying we would benefit from Ben’s abilities, and our chances for success would increase. His hard gaze told me Ben was offering to go for reasons beyond wanting to fight the fight.

“Thad?” Pierce asked, repeating his previous question.